ABSTRACT
Since the 1990s, China has entered a period of high unemployment accompanied by a massive structural adjustment of employment. Large numbers of jobs were cut in the formal sectors (urban state-owned and collective-owned units) and traditional industries, which caused large numbers of workers to lose their jobs or be relocated. At the same time, new formal sectors and informal sectors including individual and private enterprises have created large numbers of employment opportunities. China’s employment is experiencing a process of “constructive destruction” that is characterized by the coexistence of construction and destruction, and the speed of construction is much slower than that of destruction. The unemployment explosion has caused great shocks to China’s economic, social and political arenas. It has become the most serious developmental challenge for China in the first ten years of the new century.
